Performance and reliability improvement of HfSiON gate dielectrics using chlorine plasma treatment

Journal Article · Mon Jan 26 00:00:00 EST 2009 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3078277· OSTI ID:21175932

Park, Hong Bae; Ju, Byongsun ^[1]; Kang, Chang Yong; Park, Chanro; Park, Chang Seo ^[2]; Lee, Byoung Hun ^[3]; Kim, Tea Wan; Kim, Beom Seok; Choi, Rino ^[4]

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1. Samsung Electronics R and D Center (Korea, Republic of)
2. SEMATECH, Austin, Texas 78741 (United States)
3. Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju (Korea, Republic of)
4. Inha University, 253 Yonghyun-dong, Nam-gu, Incheon 402-751 (Korea, Republic of)

The effects of chlorine plasma treatment on HfSiON gate dielectrics were investigated with respect to device performance and reliability characteristics. The chlorine plasma treatment was performed on atomic layer deposited HfSiON films to remove the residual carbon content. The optimal chlorine plasma treatment is shown to lower gate leakage current density without increasing equivalent oxide thickness of the gate stack. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy depth profiling showed that the carbon residue in HfSiON was reduced by the chlorine plasma treatment. It is demonstrated that an optimized chlorine plasma treatment improves the transistor I{sub on}-I{sub off} characteristics and reduces negative-bias temperature instability.

• OSTI ID: 21175932
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 94, Issue 4; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3078277; (c) 2009 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
CARBON
CHLORINE
CURRENT DENSITY
DEPOSITION
DIELECTRIC MATERIALS
FILMS
HAFNIUM COMPOUNDS
ION MICROPROBE ANALYSIS
LAYERS
LEAKAGE CURRENT
MASS SPECTRA
MASS SPECTROSCOPY
OXIDES
PERFORMANCE
PLASMA
RELIABILITY
SILICON COMPOUNDS